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Abstract

Rapid in-situ non-ambient X-ray diffraction represents a powerful tool for characterizing the evolution of crystalline materials in real time. The calcium aluminate system and formation of Ca12Al14O33 (C12A7) is particularly sensitive to processing conditions. This report characterizes the kinetic pathways to thermodynamic equilibrium as a function of atmosphere (ambient, dry, and vacuum) and reactant heterogeneity (as-received, milled, and sol-gel reactants). When reactants are heterogenous (as-received and milled), intermediary phases of Ca3Al2O6 (C3A) and CaAl2O4 (CA) are observed as the route to C12A7 formation and Ca5Al6O14 (C5A3) is only observed as a decomposition product of C12A7. When reactants are heterogenous, C12A7 is only thermodynamically favorable under ambient conditions due to the stability provided by hydration. When reactants are homogenous (sol-gel), direct crystallization of C12A7 from an amorphous precursor is observed at low temperature regardless of atmosphere defining C12A7 as the kinetic equilibrium. These findings accurately define the heterogenous formation pathways and report for the first time the formation of C12A7 under a carbon-free vacuum environment.
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